Read Full Publications from This 20 year ongoing Project

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 When we started the Florida Hawksbill Project, virtually nothing was known about them, so we wanted to do the basic stuff first. Most importantly, we wanted to get a handle on how many there were, what stage of growth they were in, and where they were coming from. After a rigorous review, we concluded that the Palm Beach aggregation is comprised mostly of large sub-adult turtles that originate from around the Caribbean, with many coming from the beaches of Mexico. Upon departure, they’ll return to their respective places of origin to complete their life cycles as adults.  

 Sea turtles are mobile platforms for all sorts of marine creatures that can include diatoms, algae, coral, sponges, and much more! Among the most conspicuous are the bright white barnacles that so often colonize the shells of sea turtles, so we wanted to look a little more closely at the barnacles we were finding on hawksbills. We unexpectedly discovered that different barnacle species prefer different turtle species, and our hawksbill hosts were carrying their own favorite kind!  

 Sea turtles, like so many creatures today, must adapt to climate change. It is known that warmer nests produce more female turtles, so there are global concerns about the stability of future of sea turtle populations. In response, we wanted to know what the ratios of males to females were in the Florida population, so we analyzed small blood samples to determine their gender. At the time, we found about twice as many females as males. We’re now just finishing another project to again compare the male - female ratios to compare them to our 2008 results to track any changes over time. We’ll keep you posted on the upcoming results! 

 When we started the Florida Hawksbill Project, virtually nothing was known about them, so we wanted to do the basic stuff first. Most importantly, we wanted to get a handle on how many there were, what stage of growth they were in, and where they were coming from. After a rigorous review, we concluded that the Palm Beach aggregation is comprised mostly of large sub-adult turtles that originate from around the Caribbean, with many coming from the beaches of Mexico. Upon departure, they’ll return to their respective places of origin to complete their life cycles as adults.  

 Just like in humans, we can gauge the health of the population and the individuals within by analyzing the many components present in blood. From cholesterol to calcium, these blood analytes can reveal how the internal systems of any animal are functioning. Up until our recent study, reference intervals, or normal ‘ranges’ of many common blood components had never been published for hawksbill turtles in this part of their range. These intervals are not only useful to clinicians in veterinary situations, but also for tracking the health of the population itself over time. Without baselines, we can’t recognize changes, so we’re glad to have made this contribution to the literature.